KDE 4.0.0 has been released onto the world. "The KDE Community is thrilled to announce the immediate availability of KDE 4.0. This significant release marks both the end of the long and intensive development cycle leading up to KDE 4.0 and the beginning of the KDE 4 era." KDE 4.0 is the first release of "KDE 4", but take note that the developers have clearly stated that KDE 4.0 is not KDE 4, but more of a base release with all the underlying systems ready to go, but with still a lot of work to be done on the user-visible side. Download it from the KDE 4.0 info page. Update:Screenshots.

I want KDE on Windows as well but you misunderstand the KDE project. Its not there to promote free OS's,...

I didn't say that ... nor did I imply that.

Using free software does not lead to using a free OS. Look at firefox and open office. Free applications that don't lead people to use a free OS.

I'm comfortable saying they do, as a side effect -- not a primary goal, promote alternative OS's. I doubt there's any hard data out there to support either your point of view or mine. It's probably just subjective at this point.

Why would you pay for a sound card? Better functionality verses the free one. I can get an 8-bit 16 voice fm card for cheap, but there are now cards that are 32 bit 7.1 digital sound.

If there is a difference, then I agree with you. But, that's pretty much the opposite of the point that I was trying to make. Right now, the apps you run are completely tied to your OS. If at some point in the future, everything is cross platform, then the OS you choose will be based on criteria like security and speed as opposed to apps like Quicken. I realize we are a long way off. But, the possibilities are cool.

Since KDE is what you "see" when you use a computer (assuming you're a KDE user), it's a bigger step toward being OS agnostic than a single app. You know... it's like people who think AOL is the Internet... to them, it is. Less technical users may one day think their Windowing interface *IS* their OS.

Wouldn't it be cool if you could write your app for KDE and just let KDE take care of all of the underlying differences between OS's?

Well, yeah ... more or less. I'm aware of that site. It seems kinda like a bastard child, though. I was envisioning something like a link for the Windows installer right on the Download menu or here http://www.kde.org/download/. If you go to the downloads link, I don't think there is any mention of a Windows version.

I'm not complaining. I'm excited about the possibilities and am simply gazing into the future. Once the Windows version matures, I suppose it will get better placement.